Huller front for cotton gins



J n 3. 1967 J. J. WALLACE HULLER FRONT FOR COTTON GINS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 20, 1964 INVENTOR EFFEY J".

BY f masowf fiwumfiu f mun me. ATTORNEYS J. J. WALLACE HULLER FRONT FOR COTTON GINS June 113, mm

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed 001;. 20, 1964 INVENTOR ATTORNEYS 3,324,512 HULLER FRONT lFGR COTTON GINS Jeffrey John Wallace, Amite, La. 70422 Filed Oct. 211', 1964, Ser. No. 405,120 7 (Claims. (til. 19-56) This invention relates to improvements in the hulling systems of cotton gins, both of the conventional type which employ ginning saws up to twelve and one half inches maximum diameter, and the modern high capacity gins using saws of greater diameter than the conventional maximum having advantages outgrowing from their greater peripheral speed.

Up to the middle of the present century when cotton was hand picked, the predominant trash which the mechanism of the huller breast was called upon to eliminate consisted of hull fragments, in the removal of which the huller mechanism did a creditable job.

The widespread use of mechanical pickers has created a different need for seed cotton cleaning. Since machine picked cotton is generally characterized by more leaf trash and less hull material than hand picked cotton it has been necessary to shift the emphasis from hull removal to stick and leaf trash removal in order for cotton gins to perform an efficient job of cleaning and ginning machine picked cotton. This the huller front mechanisms could not alone accomplish. The use of additional modern seed cotton machines such as the cylinder cleaner, stick remover and improved extractor feeders have greatly reduced the prominence of the gin stand huller front as a seed cotton cleaning device. However, the huller front is, in general considered advantageous, to the extent of the performance of its normal cleaning function, although with machine picked cotton this is a relatively small part of the cleaning process. Lately the huller front has become suspect of offsetting its desirability as a cleaning adjunct by manufacturing and incorporating into the seed cotton an additional quantity of pin trash or smaller trash particles which are diflicultly separable from the lint.

During the 1963 ginning season extensive tests were conducted at the USDA Cotton Ginning Laboratory at Stoneville, Miss, to determine the cleaning efficiency and the effect on fiber quality of gin stand huller fronts, using machine picked cotton. Both conventional and high capacity gins were used in these tests. The cotton used was of uniform variety and having been subjected to the same field and harvesting conditions. The test was applied to the high capacity gin first with the huller front present, and then with the huller front removed the cotton being fed direct into the roll box. Previously the cotton had passed through a cylinder cleaner, stick remover, and extractor so that it entered the test with the normal percentage of trash removed, the residual trash being 2.2% of the original trash content. The result of these comparative tests with the high capacity gin show 1.94% residual trash in the lint, using the huller front and 1.87% without the huller front. In the case of the conventional gin the comparative percentages were 1.49% and 1.45%.

While the trash content converted into pin trash or smaller particles through the working of the huller mechanism is small percentage-wise, its avoidance is most important on account of its resistance to removal by the gin stand moting system and lint cleaners generally.

The present invention is founded on the assumption that the objectionable small trash results from excessive passes of the seed cotton against the hull and debris removing devices and ginning saw teeth in its progress through the huller front, and it is therefore the general object of the invention to so improve the huller mechanism that contact of the cotton with these elements is minim zed and the removed hull and trash material kept away from the teeth of the gin saws.

3,324,5l2 Patented June 13, 1967 Other objects of the invention will appear as the following description of a practical embodiment thereof proceeds.

In the drawing which accompanies and forms a part of the specification and in the figures of which the same characters of reference have been employed to designate identical parts:

FIGURE 1 is a view in side elevation of a known type of huller gin, the huller mechanism shown being that which may be found in either the conventional or high capacity gin stand;

FIGURE 2 is a side elevational view illustrating my improved huller gin.

Referring first to FIGURE 1, this shows, to an extent diagrammatically, a huller gin the arrangement of parts of which may be considered common both to the conventional and high capacity gin. Shown is a frame 1 supporting the saw cylinder 2, ginning ribs 3, huller ribs 4 and including the roll box 5. The lower wall of the roll box is defined on one side by the upper parts of the set of ginning ribs which extends across the gin, the lower wall on the opposite side including the lambrequin 6, consisting of a timed baflie hinged about the axis 7, and which is adjustable to control the vertical extent of the passage that admits seed cotton from the huller breast to the roll box. The upper enclosing structure of the roll box includes the plates 8 and 9 having such shape as to divert the rotating mass within the roll box into cylindrical form. For the sake of simplicity a number of structural details common to most gins, such as means for effecting relative independent movability of the ginning ribs and hulling breast with respect to the saw cylinder, have been omitted from this figure.

The huller breast 10 includes a casing 11 the upper part of which forms a chute 12 to which seed cotton is delivered by feeding means, not shown. The periphery of the saw cylinder in the forward arc of its path of rotation extends between the huller ribs, projecting into the casing and moving upwardly. The seed cotton falls upon the spike roller 13 which carries it in lumps as delivered by the feeder, to the saw cylinder. The teeth of the saws engage the mass, carrying the seed cotton upward toward the tops of the huller ribs at which point the saws draw seed cotton through the huller ribs. Since the seed cotton is in the form of lumps the teeth of the saws are not able to securely attach to all of the fiber. Some seed cotton rides upon the attached cotton up to the top of the huller ribs as surplus and is stripped from the saws by the ribs, accumulating in the spaces between individual ribs at the top. This requires some type of clearer, which, as shown, is a roller 14 provided with the oppositely positioned flights or vanes 15.

The roller 14 operates in a direction to force surplus downwardly from obstructive position adjacent the tops of the hulling ribs, dropping it into a position to be engaged by the teeth of the saws of the saw cylinder and into contact with cotton being carried over to the-saw cylinder by the roller 13. It is to be noted that the saw cylinder 2, spiked roller 13 and clearing roller 14 all revolve in the same direction, that is, referring to the position of the gin as it appears in FIGURE 1, in a counterclockwise direction so that the saw cylinder imparts a revolving motion to the surplus cotton clockwisely, being assisted by contact of the revolving mass with the adjacent arcs of the rollers 13 and 14. Due to this action, a roll of seed cotton and trash, indicated by the arrows a, is quickly built up in front of the saw cylinder and tangent to the saw cylinder and each of the rollers. Said roll restricts the free and easy flow of cotton to the roll box and brings the same seed cotton a number of times into engagement with the teeth of the saws of the saw cylinder as well as the rollers 13 and 14, comminuting the hull fragments and trash to such degree of fineness that it is not shed from the cotton within the huller breast but stays with the cotton when the latter finally passes to the roll boX, being difficulty removable in all subsequent cleaning operations. Under the conditions described the roll of seed cotton and trash becomes denser as it continues to revolve, damaging the saws of the saw cylinder as they run through it as well as substantially blockading the openings between the huller ribs above the saws.

One of the specific objects of the invention is to eliminate this drawback by nullifying the correlation of forces that creates the roll, and to provide improved facilities for carrying out the hulling function with minimum further fragmentation of the hull and trash particles.

Referring now particularly to FIGURE 2, seed cotton enters the gin at the top of the chute 12 and falls gravitationally upon the downwardly curved baffle 16. A toothed cylindrical drum 17 is mounted laterally of the lower part of the chute between the chute and the saw cylinder 2, the lower end of the chute opening in operative adjacency to the drum, the direction of rotation of the latter adjacent the chute being downward. The drum and gin saw rotate in opposite directions. The seed cotton slides down the chute into contact with the teeth of the drum which engage the cotton and draw the same through the opening 18 between drum and bafile.

A tubular striker cylinder 19 is rotatably mounted below the chute and beneath the opening 18, which carries flights or vanes 20, the ends of which pass in proximity to the periphery of the drum. The latter travels at such speed that the attached seed cotton stands out centrifugally and is swept by the flights which stroke off hulls and debris which thus never reach the saw cylinder even the first time around. Some valuable seed cotton may become disengaged from the teeth in this operation. To reclaim this material, a yielding means such as the wire brush 21 is provided, which is arranged to work close to a toothed cylindrical reclaimer drum 22.

The brush 21 includes a back bar 23 extending across the gin, fixedly mounted beneath the lower end of an inclined baffle 24 positioned to catch the hulls, trash and surplus seed cotton thrown off by the flights 20 and conduct them to a position on the upper face of the core of resilient wire'bristles 25 mounted in the bar.- The bristles in repose position are rectilinear, inclined downwardly, bridging the distance between baffle and drum. The bristles are supported at their base between plates 26 and 27 which act as stops to limit the range of resilient movement of the brush, the lower plate being progressively curved to control the ratio of yield of the bristles with respect to the weight of the mass of cotton resting on the brush.

The resilient bias of the bristles presses the cotton into engagement with the teeth of the drum 22 and also releases the hulls and trash. A hinged basket 28 underlies the drum 22, swingable about an axis at 29 and having a limited range of swinging movement governed by the compression spring 30 which is anchored at one end to the pivot pin 31 and supports the free portion of the basket at the other. The basket has an adjustable front extension 32 which may be set to project any desired distance into the space beneath the brush, according to the amount of trash being discharged past the brush, its function being to divert the hulls and trash released by the brush from the seed cotton attached to the teeth of the drum 22 and drawn through the arcuate space between the basket and drum. Since the surface contour of the cotton carried by the drum may be uneven, the spring support of the basket permits it to yield under the pressure of protuberant masses being drawn in.

It is to be noted that all the hulls and trash removed by the hulling instrumentalities, that is, the debris disby the extension 32 of the basket are moved in a direction away from the teeth of the saw cylinder 2, and only such small quantities as accompany that portion of the cotton that lies next to the teeth of the drums 19 and 22 firmly attached thereto and which escape being dislodged by the flights and brush, can get to the gin saws and pass through the opening 33, above the slotted baffie 35 and into the roll box. Incidentally, the slotted bafile does not function as hulling ribs for it terminates short of the upper gin rail 38, its upper edge defining the bottom of the opening 33. Cotton is not drawn through the saw slots in the bafile, but solely through the opening above the baffle. The sole function of the battle 35 is to keep the seed which are released at the ginning point 39 and fall through the channel 40 between the bafile and ginning ribs 41, free from contamination by trash from the huller front. A baffle board 36 is adjustably secured to said rail, the lower edge of which defines the top of said opening. The teeth on drum 17 carry seed cotton into close proximity to the teeth of the saw cylinder 2. The surface speed of drum 17 is sutficient to cause the seed cotton to extend outwardly due to centrifugal force delivering the seed cotton within the range of the saw cylinder. The surface speed of the saw cylinder relative to that of the drum 17 in the'prototype model is such that six inches of the gin saw teeth is presented to one inch of the teeth of drum 17 so that the gin saw leads seed cotton away from the drum 17 in an orderly uniform manner into the roll box. Should any cotton be stripped off of the saw cylinder by the edge of the baflle board 36, the teeth of the drum 17 will pick it up and return it to the gin saws in the next cycle.

The seed cotton attached to the teeth of drum 22, carrying its minor portion of the total amount of debris affecting the cotton when fed to the gin, traverses the space between the drum and basket and then encounters a dofiing brush 43 which rotates with suflicient velocity to throw the seed cotton against the segments 34 of the ginning saws that protrude beyond the baffle 35.

The subject invention is characterized by the construction and arrangement of the rotatable hulling elements and the saw cylinder which studiedly avoids such relationship as nutures the formation and maintenance of a spurious roll of seed cotton material in obstructive position to the opening from the hulling breast into the roll box. Such roll-forming conditions occur when the arrangement is such that, as illustrated in FIGURE 1, the axes of the saw cylinder and the huller drums 13 and 14 are at the corners of an imaginary triangle, and all rotating in the same direction, so that the mutually adjacent arcs of each that intersect the triangle, moving unidirectionally, define a space in which cotton is frictionally induced to revolve by contact with the rotating members, in said adjacent arcs.

The obstruction interposed by the presence of this roll, in ordinary gins seriously cuts down the ginning capacity in both conventional gins, (12 /2 inch) diameter saws and high capacity gins (larger than 12 /2 inch) diameter saws.

Furthermore, the hull and trash debris removed at first instance by the hulling instrumentalities of the subject invention as shown and described, never reaches the saw cylinder and is never subjected to repeated cyclic engagement with the hulling elements or the teeth of the saw cylinder. Consequently, it is now subjected to further comminution and the seed cotton is delivered to the saw cylinder free from small hull and trash particles resulting from over-hulling, and which are difficult to remove in subsequent cleaning.

The elimination of repetitive cyclic engagement of the seed cotton with the hulling mechanism also results in an appreciable reduction in the loss of seeds compared with the loss that characterizes the operation of conventional hulling gins.

While I have in the above disclosure describeda practical embodiment of the invention, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the specific details of structure and arrangement of parts as shown and described are by Way of example and not to be construed as necessarily limiting the scope of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. A huller front for cotton gins of the type provided with a roll box and a saw cylinder including the saws thereof, said huller front comprising a casing, the forward portionbeing formed as a chute for receiving seed cotton, and having a lateral discharge opening at the bottom of the chute, the rear of said casing including a sectional wall comprising an upper bafile board and a lower bathe, said baffie board and bafiie having transverse spaced respective lower and upper edges defining an opening across the gin communicating with said roll box, said baffle being provided with a series of parellel slots extending downward from its upper edge to allow for the protrusion of the forward arcs of the saws through said bafiie and sufficiently narrow to prevent seed, freed at the ginning point and falling forwardly of said baffie from entering the huller front, a toothed drum mounted within said casing substantially in the space between the discharge opening of the chute and the transverse opening in said wall, with opposite peripheral arcs being in operative closeness to said openings, respectively drawing seed cotton from the chute and delivering it to said saw cylinder, the direction of rotation of said drum being downward adjacent said discharge opening, striker means operatively related to the periphery of said toothed drum in its lower are, between said openings for striking off debris and surplus seed from the seed cotton attached to said drum, rotatable in such direction as to throw the debris in a direction away from the saw cylinder, a toothed reclaimer drum below the first mentioned toothed drum rotatable in the same direction as the latter, a brush type baifie positioned in the path of descent of the debris and surplus cotton removed by said striker means, including resilient filaments constructed and arranged to guide the surplus cotton to the reclaimer drum, press the surplus seed cotton into attachment with the toothed periphery of said drum, and to let the debris sift through between the filaments, and doffing means engaging said reclairner drum downstream from said brush type baflie, for doffing the seed cotton from said reclaimer drum and projecting it toward the saw cylinder under the impetus of its velocity of movement.

2. A huller front for cotton gins including a saw cylinder and roll box, said huller front comprising a casing adapted to be mounted forwardly of the saw cylinder, said casing including a conduit for receiving seed cotton having a lateral discharge opening at its lower end and the following succession of trash removing and seed cotton transferring instrumentalities: a toothed drum operatively confronting said discharge opening, rotatable in such direction as to engage and draw down cotton from said opening, striker means positioned below said toothed drum in operative nearness to the periphery thereof, and rotatable in such direction that its movement adjacent said drum is contra to the movement of the drum in the corresponding adjacent arc, whereby hulls, trash and surplus seed cotton are stricken from drum, a toothed reclaimer drum below said first mentioned drum rotatable in the same direction as the latter, a flexible brush extending across the casing between said drums having resilient filaments longitudinally parallel to the plane of rotation of said reclaimer drum having free ends terminating substantially at the periphery of said reclaimer drum, said brush forming a baffle positioned laterally of said reclaimer drum to receive hulls, trash and seed cotton thrown by said striker means, said brush functioning to sift debris through the filaments and flexing resiliently under the weight of the mass of received material to press the seed cotton into engagement with the teeth of the reclaimer drum under the reaction bias of the filaments.

' 3. In a cotton gin, a saw cylinder including the saws thereof, a roll box in operative relation thereto, and a huller front mounted forwardly of said saw cylinder, said huller front comprising a casing including a chute having a feed opening for receiving seed cotton, and a lower lateral discharge opening, and being shaped to conduct the seed cotton to said opening, said huller front including a wall extending across the gin having lower and upper portions, the lower portion having a transverse upper edge and being provided with slots extending downward from said edge, said saws in their forward arcs of rotation projecting through said slots, the upper portion of said wall having a transverse lower edge spaced from said lower portion defining an unobstructed opening to the roll box across the gin above the projecting arcs of said saws, a toothed drum mounted between said discharge opening and the opening in said wall in operative proximity to both, and rotatable in such direction as to draw cotton downwardly from said discharge opening and striker means below said discharge opening in operative nearness to said toothed drum and rotatable in such direction that in adjacent arcs they move oppositely, whereby the striker means strips hulls, debris as well as surplus cotton from the mass drawn down by the drum, permitting only the firmly attached cotton to be carried directly by the drum to the opening to the roll box, a toothed reclaimer drum below said first mentioned drum rotatable in the same direc tion as the latter, a flexible brush extending across the casing between said drums having resilient filaments longitudinally parallel to the plane of rotation of said reclaimer drum having free ends terminating substantially at the periphery of said reclaimer drum, said brush forming a bafile positioned laterally of said reclaimer drum to receive hulls, trash and seed cotton thrown by said striker means, said brush functioning to sift debris through the filaments and flexing resiliently under the weight of the mass of received material to press the seed cotton into engagement with the teeth of the reclaimer drum under the reaction bias of the filaments.

4. In a cotton gin, a saw cylinder including the saws thereof, a roll box in operative relation thereto, and a huller front mounted forwardly of said saw cylinder, said huller front comprising a casing including a chute having a feed opening for receiving seed cotton, and a lower lateral discharge opening, and being shaped to conduct the seed cotton to said opening, said huller front including a wall extending across the gin having lower and upper portions, the lower portion having a transverse upper edge and being provided with slots extending downward from said edge, said saws in their forward arcs of rotation projecting through said slots, the upper portion of said wall having a transverse lower edge spaced from said lower portion defining an unobstructed opening to the roll box across the gin above the projecting arcs of said saws, a toothed drum mounted between said discharge opening and the opening in said wall in operative proximity to both, and rotatable in such direction as to draw cotton downwardly from said discharge opening and striker means below said discharge opening in operative nearness to said toothed drum and rotatable in such direction that in adjacent arcs they move oppositely, whereby the striker means strips hulls, debris as well as surplus cotton from the mass drawn down by the drum, permitting only the firmly attached cotton to be carried directly by the drum to the opening to the roll box, a toothed reclaimer drum below said first mentioned drum rotatable in the same direction as the latter, a flexible brush extending across the casing between the drums having resilient filaments longitudinally parallel to the plane of rotation of the reclaimer drum, said brush forming a batfie positioned laterally of said reclaimer drum to receive hulls, trash and seed cotton thrown by said striker means, said brush functioning to sift debris through the filaments and flexing resiliently under the weight of the mass of received material to press the seed cotton in engagement with the teeth of the reclaimer drum under reaction bias of the filaments, and doffer means cooperating with said reclaimer drum, the seed cotton attached to the first mentioned drum being transferred to the saw cylinder, the seed cotton attached to the reclaimer drum being transferred indirectly to the saw cylinder through the intermediary of the doffer means.

5. In a cotton gin as claimed in claim 2, dolfer means cooperating with said reclaimer drum, the seed cotton attached to the first mentioned drum being directly transferred to the saw cylinder and the seed cotton attached to the reclaimer drum being indirectly transferred to the saw cylinder through the intermediary of the doffer means.

6. A huller front for cotton gins including a saw cylinder and roll box, said huller front including a casing adapted to be mounted forwardly of the saw cylinder, said casing including a conduit for receiving seed cotton having a lateral discharge opening at its lower end, and the following succession of trash removing and seed cotton transferring instrumentalities: a toothed drum operatively confronting said discharge opening, rotatable in such direction as to engage and draw down cotton from said opening, striker means positioned below said toothed drum in operative nearness to the periphery thereof and rotatable in such direction that its movement adjacent said drum is contra to the movement of the drum in the corresponding adjacent arcs, whereby hulls, trash and surplus seed cotton are stricken from said drum, a toothed reclaimer drum below said first mentioned drum rotatable in the same direction as the latter, a flexible brush extending across the casing between the drums having resilient filaments longitudinally parallel to the plane of rotation of said reclaimer drum, having free ends terminating substantially at the periphery of said reclaimer drum, said brush forming a bafile positioned laterally of said reclaimer drum to receive hulls, trash and seed cotton thrown by said striker means, said brush functioning to sift debris through the filaments and flexing resiliently under the weight of the mass of received material to press the seed cotton into engagement with the teeth of the reclaimer drum under the reaction bias of the filaments, and a basket surrounding the lower part of said reclaimer drum generally uniformly spaced from its periphery to hold seed cotton in attachment to said drum against its gravitational urge to drop off, said basket being hinged at one end and spring supported at a point displaced from its hinge axis.

7. A huller front for cotton gins as claimed in claim 6, including an extensible forward end portion for said basket adjustable to divert the debris stream from entrance to said basket.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 11/1929 Mitchell et al. 19-56 7/1936 Alley et al 1956 

1. A HULLER FRONT FOR COTTON GINS OF THE TYPE PROVIDED WITH A ROLL BOX AND A SAW CYLINDER INCLUDING THE SAWS THEREOF, SAID HULLER FRONT COMPRISING A CASING, THE FORWARD PORTION BEING FORMED AS A CHUTE FOR RECEIVING SEED COTTON, AND HAVING A LATERAL DISCHARGE OPENING AT THE BOTTOM OF THE CHUTE, THE REAR OF SAID CASING INCLUDING A SECTIONAL WALL COMPRISING AN UPPER BAFFLE BOARD AND A LOWER BAFFLE, SAID BAFFLE BOARD AND BAFFLE HAVING TRANSVERSE SPACED RESPECTIVE LOWER AND UPPER EDGES DEFINING AN OPENING ACROSS THE GIN COMMUNICATING WITH SAID ROLL BOX, SAID BAFFLE BEING PROVIDED WITH A SERIES OF PARALLEL SLOTS EXTENDING DOWNWARD FROM ITS UPPER EDGE TO ALLOW FOR THE PROTRUSION OF THE FORWARD ARCS OF THE SAWS THROUGH SAID BAFFLE AND SUFFICIENTLY NARROW TO PREVENT SEED, FREED AT THE GINNING POINT AND FALLING FORWARDLY OF SAID BAFFLE FROM ENTERING THE HULLER FRONT, A TOOTHED DRUM MOUNTED WITHIN SAID CASING SUBSTANTIALLY IN THE SPACED BETWEEN THE DISCHARGE OPENING OF THE CHUTE AND THE TRANSVERSE OPENING IN SAID WALL, WITH OPPOSITE PERIPHERAL ARCS BEING IN OPERATIVE CLOSENESS TO SAID OPENINGS, RESPECTIVELY DRAWING SEED COTTON FROM THE CHUTE AND DELIVERING IT TO SAID SAW CYLINDER, THE DIRECTION OF ROTATION OF SAID DRUM BEING DOWNWARD ADJACENT SAID DISCHARGE OPENING, STRIKER MEANS OPERATIVELY RELATED TO THE PERIPHERY OF SAID TOOTHED DRUM IN ITS LOWER ARC, BETWEEN SAID OPENINGS FOR STRIKING OFF DEBRIS AND SURPLUS SEED FROM THE SEED COTTON ATTACHED TO SAID DRUM, ROTATABLE IN SUCH DIRECTION AS TO THROW THE DEBRIS IN A DIRECTION AWAY FROM THE SAW CYLINDER, A TOOTHED RECLAIMER DRUM BELOW THE FIRST MENTIONED TOOTHED DRUM ROTATABLE IN THE SAME DIRECTION AS THE LATTER, A BRUSH TYPE BAFFLE POSITIONED IN THE PATH OF DESCENT OF THE DEBRIS AND SURPLUS COTTON REMOVED BY SAID STRIKER MEANS, INCLUDING RESILIENT FILAMENTS CONSTRUCTED AND ARRANGED TO GUIDE THE SURPLUS COTTON TO THE RECLAIMER DRUM, PRESS THE SURPLUS SEED COTTON INTO ATTACHMENT WITH THE TOOTHED PERIPHERY OF SAID DRUM, AND TO LET THE DEBRIS SIFT THROUGH BETWEEN THE FILAMENTS, AND DOFFING MEANS ENGAGING SAID RECLAIMER DRUM DOWNSTREAM FROM SAID BRUSH TYPE BAFFLE, FOR DOFFING THE SEED COTTON FROM SAID RECLAIMER DRUM AND PROJECTING IT TOWARD THE SAW CYLINDER UNDER THE IMPETUS OF ITS VELOCITY OF MOVEMENT. 